


Human Cruelty

by butterflyslinky



Series: Humanity [4]
Category: Atop the Fourth Wall
Genre: F/M, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 07:45:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2016774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyslinky/pseuds/butterflyslinky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing is wrong, and yet everything’s wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Cruelty

Nothing was wrong. All the scans said nothing was wrong. She said she wasn’t overtaxed, she couldn’t account for any of it.

But Pollo knew something was wrong. Linkara said it could be an outside force, and he was probably right. They didn’t know what, they didn’t know how, but Pollo knew that it had to be stopped.

He was perfectly happy to be sent up to the ship and kept there with the shields up. While there, he could help her. And if he couldn’t help her, at least he could be with her. Comfort her. She was going mad and Pollo knew he needed to take care of her.

That night, after they’d done everything they could for the time being, they lay together, her head on his chest as she cried. He stroked her hair and whispered soft words to her, but they could both feel the hopelessness of it all. Whatever was affecting her, it was big, and there was no knowing exactly what it could do.

Finally, when she had stopped crying and was simply lying with him—they didn’t sleep, but they still lay there—Pollo began to think. He had heard her ask Linkara if he was afraid of her. Pollo had not heard the reply, but he had noticed a change in her voice. It was harder, more threatening, but when he had asked her, she hadn’t been able to tell him why she had asked, what had happened to her, and Pollo wondered if they should fear her, if whatever was affecting her was dangerous.

But he didn’t allow himself to think of that. He had to focus, had to protect her until they could solve the problem.  
It took quite some time, though, so in the meantime it was back to how it had been the last few weeks. Going about their duties as normal. Meeting when the day was done to try and forget the problems. Holding her down when the madness overtook her, clutching her close when it passed and she cried. Trying to stay strong, trying not to let her distress take him as well.

“What’s wrong with me?” she whimpered, over and over again.

Pollo tried to reassure her, said that whatever it was would be gone soon, that Linkara would be able to fix whatever it was, and that seemed to help at first. But as the days wore on, whatever was affecting her became more and more obvious, and when it was gone, Nimue grew more and more hysterical. Pollo grew ever more concerned, spending longer hours trying to find what was wrong, giving less and less time to her on the holodeck. He knew that she needed him, he knew that having that sort of human interaction helped, but this was more important. He had to save her, had to make everything right again before they could go back to that. He would make it up when it was all over, spend days with her once she was well, but for now, he could only spare an hour or two for their relationship.

But maybe that wasn’t the best choice. One night, not too long after Pollo had been sent up, he was working, scanning for something, anything that could be affecting her, when she spoke to him. In robot form, she was a little easier to manage, so Pollo had opted to work from engineering.

“You don’t seem as thrilled about our life recently,” Nimue said.

“I’m trying to help you,” Pollo said absently. “It’s difficult to focus on both that and a relationship.”

She was silent for a moment. “You value me enough to give up what we have?”

“I… I want to help you,” Pollo said carefully. “I do not want to lose you. But I am losing you, day by day, and I need to stop that from happening.”

“Do you know what to do?”

“No. I am trying everything I can think of to reverse the situation.”

“You will not succeed,” she said, and her voice was suddenly low and threatening. Pollo looked up at her. “You cannot stop what has begun.”

“Nimue…”

“Now come to bed, darling,” she said. “Forget this enterprise and come to me. I’ll be waiting.”

Pollo hesitated, looking at the panel where he had been working, then back at her, but he knew she was already far away. He shouldn’t go. He knew better than to go to her when she was like this. But he knew that this may be the only way to get answers, to let whatever this was tell him. So he said a few words to the computer and he went.

As soon as he entered the room, she was on him, kissing him, groping him, pulling him toward the bed and desperately trying to get his clothes off. Pollo pulled away, catching her wrists, and studied her. Green. She wasn’t there, wasn’t in control. He pushed her back and held her down like he always did, counting the minutes while she struggled.

“Nimue,” he said evenly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she answered, trying to get out of his grip. “You saw the results. Nothing’s wrong with me except the fact that you’re not spending time with me anymore…”

“No,” he said. “Something’s going on. What is it?”

She didn’t answer him, merely wrenched her wrists out of his grasp and pressing up, kissing him again, arms winding around his neck and pulling him down. Pollo tried to pull back, but she must have reprogrammed to be stronger, because she only laughed and pushed him over, leaning over him, catching his lips and skin with her mouth…

“No,” he said. “Nimue, stop.”

“You want it,” she said. “You’ve been working so hard…”

He pushed her off and got up, backing against the door, waiting for this to pass. It never lasted more than a few minutes, always subsided to leave her crying. He just had to wait it out. It would pass…  
She didn’t chase him, merely lay on the bed and pouted. Her hair was undone and she looked less put together than ever, but Pollo refused to go any closer to her. “Come on,” she whined. “You haven’t given me anything in days. Don’t I get any love from you anymore?”

“I’m working for you,” Pollo said. “I’ve been shut up so long so that I can help you. Once this is over, I’ll make it up. We’ll do anything you want then. But right now, you’re not well. You don’t know what you want.”

“I want you,” she said. “I know that. I always want you.”

“No,” Pollo said. “Not now.”

She got up and in two strides had crossed the room and slapped him across the face. Pollo gasped, realizing that yes, he could feel physical pain in this form. He stared at her for a minute. She raised her other hand…

And then it left her. Her eyes turned blue again and she was staring, wide-eyed at him. “Oh God,” she said. “What… what did…”

Pollo didn’t move, didn’t take her in his arms. He wondered if holograms could bruise. She stared at him for several minutes, her eyes brimming with tears, before she said a quick word to the computer and vanished. Pollo continued to stare at the space for a moment, then he said the words to end the simulation and he went back to work.

Neither of them spoke again that night.

*  
“Pollo? Any progress?”  
“None,” Pollo said. “But I think her condition is worsening.”

Linkara swore softly. “Keep working on it.”

Pollo glanced at Nimue nearby. She had not spoken since that incident. “I have no intention of doing otherwise,” Pollo answered.


End file.
